Peter Adderton's long anticipated re-entry into the US Wireless market is near. His latest company, Mobile X Global, formally announced today that its US subsidiary, MobileX, has partnered with Verizon. The partnership will allow MobileX "to deliver personalized services and individualized plans for wireless customers." MobileX is set to launch in the US in early 2022.
Adderton initially found success in the US Wireless markets when he launched Boost Mobile as a joint venture with Nextel Communications in 2001. Nextel later purchased the brand in 2004. Boost Mobile is now owned by the DISH Network and has over 8 million subscribers. Adderton also started the short lived AMP'd Mobile in 2004. While the company was out of business by 2007, it was an industry innovator that pioneered the concepts of putting content on mobile devices and wireless carriers as mobile entertainment companies.
Mobile X Global has developed a new and proprietary cloud based A.I. platform, XO.1, that will power the MobileX brand. Adderton told BestMVNO that MobileX won't produce rate plans like the rest of the industry. Instead, every one of the brand's customers will have their own unique personalized plan and usage case. The XO.1 platform will allow customers to pay for the data they use and need rather than to be locked into an unlimited rate plan they don't need.
MobileX will also be without borders. The XO.1 platform will offer customers the ability to seamlessly switch across global networks with one number and service without data roaming charges.
The press release states that XO.1 will "link with Verizon Network as a Service (NaaS) to provide a flexible, secure, programmable, scalable, and reliable service in a more agile, resilient and cloud-centric way than traditional network infrastructures." It is Verizon's NaaS that will empower MobileX to offer true personalization.
Adderton stressed to BestMVNO that MobileX is not about building an MVNO, but about building a connectivity as a service (CAAS) platform. It is the innovation that CAAS can bring to the market that excites him the most about MobileX's upcoming launch. Adderton has long publicly criticized the wireless industry as being a stale entity lacking true innovation.
There are still many unknowns associated with the upcoming MobileX launch. Adderton declined to comment on if MobileX will offer phones, branded devices or be prepaid or postpaid. However, Adderton has previously tweeted artist renderings of MobileX storefronts. And it's hard to imagine a storefront without phones being available for purchase. Adderton did confirm that MobileX "will do retail, but will be very different" from the rest of the market.
Adderton also declined to comment on Mobile X Global's recent SEC filings. Mobile X Global registered with the SEC on 7/1/2021/. On 7/21/2021 a Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities form was also filed. The SEC filings may indicate the potential for an eventual public offering.
Jeff Moore, Principal of Wave7 Research believes MobileX should be a very interesting endeavor. Moore commented to BestMVNO: "Very few MVNOs have launched recently. It's good for competition when a carrier launches that has an innovative pricing model. This will be interesting."
The MobileX domain is now live at https://www.mymobilex.com/